Political Analysis: As the Chinese government is not satisfied with the food quality and safety in China for it’s people, the Chinese government decided that they will create a new superministry to ensure that the quality of food and drugs in China are adequate (BusinessWeek). The process of initiating this new superministry would involve restructuring and re-evaluating various productions factories. This is a political factor as it involves the government. This new regulation would impact the productions segment of the Coca-Cola company as it would need to be assessed by this new superministry. To prevent any complications, Coca-Cola could first re-evaluate it’s factory conditions and practices before the Chinese government does. By reviewing the factories, the productions segment not only is better prepared for the assessment but also can improve or change any current factory practices and conditions. This would be considered as a opportunity as it prompts the Coca-Cola Company to revise it’s factories in China, possibly improving factory conditions and practices."China Food and Drug Safety." China Food and Drug Safety. Business Week, n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2013.Economic Analysis: In China, inflation averaged 2.6 percent which is half a percentage point higher than the average rate at the end of 2012 (BusinessWeek). As the inflation percentage is rapidly increasing, experts say that the sudden inflation could hurt the growth of China’s economy (BusinessWeek). This economic factor affects the Coca-Cola Company because a bigger portion of it’s operations are in China. If the economy in China is deteriorating, it would affect the Coca-Cola Company as well. Although this is a threat to the company, a benefit is that this sudden inflation means the consumer prices rise and it rose 3.2 percent last month- 2 percent more than in January, so people more are willing to pay a higher price for products. From this, a strategy would be to not mark up the prices of beverages, but to mark them down because all the other beverages would most likely be more expensive. If this strategy worked, then the sales of beverages would increase while still generating some profit. Another strategy would be to create sales promotions for beverages. This would differentiate the Coca-Cola’s company’s products from other products that are sold separately at a higher price and consumers would be able to purchase more of the company’s products at once. This would give the consumers a satisfaction during a time when all other prices are high while the Coca-Cola Company is being promoted as a more beneficial alternative.

"China's Inflation Fight Starts to Squeeze Consumers." Business Week. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2013.Sociocultural Analysis: As China is still developing and growing rapidly as a country, many demographical factors are changing. From the BBC report on the profile of China, people living in the city have outnumbered the rural population for the first time and China now has the world’s fastest growing economy (BBC). This is beneficial because since more people are now living in the city, it would mean that they are probably earning more income to be able to afford living in the city instead of rural areas. This widens the range of consumers that could buy beverages from the Coca-Cola Company and creates an opportunity to increase the price of it’s products as more consumers are able to afford it."China Profile." BBC News. BBC, 17 Mar. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.

Technological Analysis:

SodaStream International LTD. is a home beverage carbonation system. The company claims that it will provide a cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternative to bottled soft drinks. With the new technology that SodaStream has created with the do-it-yourself beverage carbonation system, this would be a threat to the Coca-Cola Company as sparkling beverages are primarily a big part of their company. With the technological convenience of SodaStream, the Coca-Cola Company’s consumers can now make their own beverages carbonated. This gives the consumers another alternative with more variety on what carbonated drinks they want to drink. If the consumers like this new product, then with saving money by creating your personalized carbonated drink, more people could just choose to create their own drink rather than going out and buying them. In the article, it mentions that they plan to expand to China in 2013 (SeekingAlpha). Ultimately, this could create a possible decrease in sales of carbonated drinks for the Coca-Cola Company. A strategy to overcome this threat would be effective promotion of the Coca-Cola Company’s products before SodaStream enters the Chinese market- emphasizing on factors that SodaStream has to somewhat push ahead of them. Another strategy could be to increase the product range of carbonated beverages from the Coca-Cola Company. This way, it would give the consumers more of a choice to pick from compared to the various flavours SodaStream has to offer."SodaStream Looks To Have Big Growth Potential In 2013." - Seeking Alpha. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2013.